


he saved his life

by infjwrites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AKA The Infamous Whomping Willow Prank (tm), Gen, Hogwarts, Missing Scene, Pre-Canon, Shrieking Shack, Werewolf Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 14:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21496108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infjwrites/pseuds/infjwrites
Summary: "And then, your father did something that Snape could never forgive.""What?""He saved his life."In other words, the infamous tale of the Whomping Willow prank that almost cost Severus his life.
Relationships: James Potter & Severus Snape, Marauders & Severus Snape
Comments: 1
Kudos: 52





	he saved his life

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Harry Potter, anything in the HP universe, or the characters within it.
> 
> Quote in summary is J.K. Rowling's from The Philosopher's Stone.
> 
> Credit to the respective owner.
> 
> Also, I quite honestly can’t remember if this scene was written in the books. If so, consider this my take on what would have happened.

James clambered fast down into the Whomping Willow’s passage, panic thrumming in his heart. He moved as quickly as he could, searching and searching for—

_Snape_. He could see the other boy several meters away, nearly at the door — James sprinted towards him, reaching with outstretched fingers—

Snape opened the door before James could reach him and from inside, the snarl of a fully transformed werewolf echoed through the passage; Snape stumbled backwards unsteadily, horror having taken over his nerves. The werewolf lunged, just about to push its way out and sink its teeth down into—

James leapt in front of the two, slamming the door with as much force as he could muster; Snape fell backwards onto the earth. The door, when shut, was effectively charmed to contain Remus; still, his howling tore through the dark air in such a manner that even made the hair on the back of James’ neck stand on end. He whipped around to face Snape; the slighter boy was still on the ground, and James was just able to catch the pure horror in his eyes before he scrambled to his feet and took off running at a startlingly fast pace.

James, fueled by pure adrenaline, followed suit. His fear that Snape was going to die transformed quickly into anger; the git was no doubt going to run straight to Dumbledore.

Dodging roots and rocks, he saw Snape clambering out of the passageway and missed the chance to grab his robes by only a hair. His heart pounding fast, James dashed onto the field; he used the same instincts as when he moved to catch the Snitch, watching the thin streak of black and green with a skilled focus and bounding forward at just the right moment—

Finally, his hand caught Snape’s robes, and he pulled hard, both of them landing with a thud onto the ground. Snape writhed around underneath his fingers, trying to weasel away—

“Be _still_,” James hissed, jumping to his feet and pulling out his wand in a flash as he stood over Snape, pointing it steadily down at the other boy. “_Don’t move_, alright? Just listen to me—”

Snape, however, seemed unperturbed by the wand; in fact, James had never seen him look so dangerous. He leapt to his feet with such speed that James had no time to prepare for when he shoved him back with a force that nearly knocked him off of his feet; his wand slipped from his fingers, falling somewhere into the grass.

“_You_,” Snape screamed, “you set me up— you tried to—”

“Snape, shut _up_,” James hissed, nervously looking around the darkness of the castle grounds.

“You don’t tell me what to do,” Snape spat, his eyes full of absolute loathing. He lunged at James again, who felt he had no choice but to grab Snape by one of his thin arms and wrestle him back to the ground.

“Be _quiet_!” James shouted. “Listen to me, I didn’t _know_— it was Sirius’ idea, just a prank—“

“A prank?!” Snape snarled furiously. “That wasn’t a _prank!_ It was attempted murder!” He scrambled to his feet yet again, but this time James was ready for him; he dodged out of the way of Snape’s fists and snatched his wand from the ground, turning it on the other boy once again.

Snape froze for a fraction of a second, his lank hair falling to cover most of his face, but James could still see one of his eyes through the blackness; it glittered not only with hatred, but also a certain calculating look that made James’ nerves prickle with fear more than anything else had. In a seconds’ time, Snape reached swiftly inside his robes and pulled out his own wand, and the two stood there as enemies—

Before the first spell could be cast, the footsteps of people sounded in the distance; both Snape and James jerked their heads towards the sound to see none other than McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Hagrid racing towards them.

The rest of the night passed in a blur; McGonagall was absolutely furious at the both of them. James finally had to share that he was aware of Remus’s condition and had been for some time; he mentioned nothing of Sirius, accusing instead that Snape had been the one who was poking around where he didn’t belong—

Snape, on the other hand, swore vehemently to Dumbledore that he had been tricked into going to the Whomping Willow, saying that Sirius and James and Remus had been planning to kill him and that they were all a danger to the school.

In the end, they both lost 50 points from their Houses. Dumbledore promised to Snape that he would speak to Sirius and Remus and address Snape’s accusations, then made him swear to never tell of Remus’ secret. Snape had nodded and slumped in his chair resignedly. James was desperately hoping that things would die down and go back to normal, that they could forget about it all, until Dumbledore pointed out something that would come to change everything between the two of them for the rest of their lives.

“If it wasn’t for James,” the Headmaster said gently, “it seems that things would be much worse, indeed.”

The implication was clear: _James saved your life, Severus._

Snape had stared silently at the man for a long time before shooting a look to James, utter hatred in his eyes. James hadn’t understood the reason for his fury until the next day, when rumors of the incident had spread throughout the entirety of the school like wildfire; facts were missing from the stories here and there, but one remained completely consistent: James Potter had saved Severus Snape’s life and Snape ought to be grateful.

Snape caught him the next day after class, his eyes still glittering with the hatred it had the night before.

“I hope you’re happy,” he had seethed.

“What?” James had snapped.

“The great _James Potter_,” Snape had said quietly. “Always there to save the day, even for _ungrateful gits_ like me.”

Guilt had squirmed in James’ stomach then just like it had all day, knowing that he wasn’t a hero at all, that the prank shouldn’t have even happened in the first place, that he should have spoken up against all of the praise he had gotten instead of just accepting it and hoping Lily would hear and agree— but before he could say anything, Snape shoved past him, his parting words dripping with venom,

“What a _hero_.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in response to a writing challenge on tumblr with the dialogue prompt "A prank?! That wasn't a prank! It was attempted murder!"
> 
> Give the creator of the writing challenge and subsequent dialogue prompts a follow on Tumblr: https://moonlight-thestral.tumblr.com/


End file.
